Fire, EMS unions echo calls for city to review extreme weather policies

An ice storm last month prompted fears of a Winter Storm Uri redux, with widespread power outages, and concerns among city officials, including about the leadership of since-terminated City Manager Spencer Cronk. Now, fire and EMS union representatives have joined the call for policy reforms.

Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Association President Selena Xie said the city’s public safety agencies need more generators and other resources to keep stations running during extreme weather events. They also proposed changes to the city’s extreme weather shelter activation criteria, echoing a recent City Council resolution.

“We’re seeing more extreme conditions in Austin than ever seen before,” Nicks told the city’s Public Safety Commission on Monday. “And I suspect it’s gonna keep up with a lot of the global warming changes and things like that.”

On the generator front, both Nicks and Xie cited station outages during the recent ice storm, which left some firefighters operating out of stations with no power for days and added to medics’ stress as they struggled to charge defibrillator batteries, radios and other “lifesaving” equipment.

Austin Fire Department Assistant Chief Brandon Wade told commissioners there is a shortage of generators, with more than 60 percent of the department’s facilities operating with a broken generator or none at all. 

“It will be costly, but it’s a great benefit … for both fire and EMS to have that because we’re operating out in the community,” he said. “They do not expect their fire and EMS and police to shut down just because there’s an emergency.”

ATCEMS Division Chief Kevin Parker said the ice storm and other extreme weather events strain resources in additional ways, including driving up call volume, lengthening call response times, and wearing out ambulance AC systems, which struggle to keep up with “90 days of a hundred-plus degree weather,” as occurred in 2011.

Xie suggested the city and county bolster their emergency preparedness by investing in specialized vehicles, such as ambulance buses, “that can handle a whole range of issues, from mass shootings to winter events to summer events.”

She and Nicks also pointed out flaws in the city’s cold weather shelter intake process, which City Council directed city staff to review during a Feb. 9 meeting.

Xie proffered changing the temperature thresholds to activate the extreme weather shelters and giving more advance notice of their availability, when feasible. 

She and Nicks also emphasized the need for more accessible shelter options, including a larger registration window and more locations, especially for Austinites experiencing homelessness and families who want to stay together during extreme weather events. 

“It’s probably really logistically feasible for the people running it,” Nicks said of the current process. “But for the people that are, I look at it as customers, it’s really poor.” 

A December 2022 report by the city auditor says the city hasn’t always followed its own plans for protecting residents from dangerous temperatures, with the result that “people may have suffered from freezing and subfreezing temperatures,” as the Austin Monitor previously reported. 

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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